lacquer

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various clear or colored synthetic coatings made by dissolving nitrocellulose or other cellulose derivatives together with plasticizers and pigments in a mixture of volatile solvents and used to impart a high gloss to surfaces.
2. n. A glossy, resinous material, such as the exudation of the lacquer tree, used as a surface coating.
3. n. A finish that is baked onto the inside of food and beverage cans.
4. v. To coat with lacquer.
5. v. To give a sleek, glossy finish to.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Lac as used in dyeing.
2. n. An opaque varnish containing lac, properly so called. Especially, a kind of varnish, consisting of shellac dissolved in alcohol, with the addition of other ingredients, particularly coloring matters. It is applied to different materials to protect them from tarnish and to give them luster, especially to brass.
3. n. Decorative work colored and then varnished so as to produce a hard, polished appearance like that of enamel.
4. n. A resinous varnish obtained from the Rhus vernicifera by making incisions in the bark. when dissolved in spring water and mixed with other ingredients, such as gold, cinnabar, or some similar coloring matter, it is applied in successive coatings to wood-ware, imparting to it a highly polished lustrous surface.
5. n. Lacquer-ware; articles of wood which have been ornamented by coating with lacquer. The making of this ware is an extensive industry in China and Japan, especially in the latter country, which excels in the beauty and delicacy of the articles produced. The chief kinds are: black lacquer; gold lacquer, which is of many different shades, and, when fine, of brilliant metallic luster; andaventurin or sprinkled lacquer, in which thegrains of gold are of various degrees of minuteness, and are put on sometimes in a uniform sprinkle, sometimes in cloudings. On many pieces decorated with lacquer, figures in relief of one of these kinds are applied upon a surface of another. A surface of lacquer is often adorned with pieces of gold or silver-foil, and inerusted with small reliefs in bronze, mother-of-pearl, ivory, and other materials.
6. To varnish; treat or decorate with lacquer.
7. n. crude lacquer, the sap of the Rhus vernicifera of Japan.
8. n. lacquer colored with lampblack, used for drawing fine lines in the shading of feathers, hair, etc., on gold lacquer.
9. n. a variety of Japanese lacquer with small gold fiakes in irregular clusters. See nashiji lacquer.
10. n. a pure lacquer freed from water, exposed to the light, and stirred till it becomes black: used as a basis, or undercoating, on which the finishing lacquer is afterward placed.
11. n. a variety of Japanese lacquer sprinkled with gold, in imitation of the skin of a pear. Also called a venturin lacquer.
12. n. a pure lacquer to which has been added water which had been used with a whetstone and contains fine particles of the stone in suspension: used on cheap ware.
13. n. a variety of Japanese lacquer of a pure black or greenish-black color.
14. n. a dark-green varnish made by adding to branchlacquer a small proportion of tooth-dye, which is prepared by boiling rice-vinegar in which iron filings have been placed, and by afterward exposing it to the rays of the sun for several days.
15. n. a variety of Japanese lacquer produced by mixing oil with the sap of the lacqner-tree (Rhus vernicifera). It is of a yellowish color and needs no polishing. When applied to furniture, being transparent, it shows the natural grain of the wood beneath.
16. n. a Japanese lacquer of a pure red color: same as coral or vermilion lacquer (which see, under coral).
17. n. a red lacquer which requires no final polishing. See shunuri lacquer.
18. n. a red cinnabar lacquer with carved decoration, made in China.
19. n. a variety of Japanese lacquer with marbled or veined effects in various colors.
20. n. varnish obtained from the branches of the lacquer-tree; branch-lacquer. See seshime lacquer, under lacquer.

Wiktionary

1. n. A glossy, resinous material used as a surface coating; either a natural exudation of certain trees, or a solution of nitrocellulose in alcohol, etc.
2. n. A similar finish, baked onto the inside of cans.
3. v. To apply a lacquer to something or to give something a smooth, glossy finish.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A varnish, consisting of a solution of shellac in alcohol, often colored with gamboge, saffron, or the like; -- used for varnishing metals, papier-maché, and wood. The name is also given to varnishes made of other ingredients, esp. the tough, solid varnish of the Japanese, with which ornamental objects are made.
2. v. To cover with lacquer.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a hard glossy coating
2. v. coat with lacquer
3. n. a black resinous substance obtained from certain trees and used as a natural varnish